Most everyone knows that cardio exercise is valuable to health and longevity. It improves the heart muscle itself plus the blood vessels that carry oxygenated blood to other organs and muscles. It keeps resting blood pressures lower, reduces high levels of bad cholesterol and triglycerides and sugar. And it helps burn calories to help youRead More
Fitness Blog
Designing Your Own Workout…May Require a Pro
I wish DIY was applicable in all aspects of life. As a client told me the other day, when confronted by a minor repair of his toilet a few years back, he considered DIY. His son, a wise young man, suggested that, buying a $1 item to do the repair in order to avoid aRead More
Obese and Heart-Healthy: The Paradox Continues
A recent article about a research study raises once again the prospect that obesity, defined as >30 BMI or >25% body fat in men and >30% in women; or >40″ waist for men and >35″ for women, is a risk factor for heart disease, if not now, later. But unlike some early references to theRead More
Obesity Ain’t What You Think It Oughta Be
A fascinating, lay article in the Huffington Post, with the catchy title, “Everything You Know About Obesity is Wrong“, attempts to offer readers a simple, and emotionally moving, synopsis of obesity science. It is heartbreaking at times as interviewees often express lifelong feelings of pain and shame, and society and the medical community don’t help.Read More
Exercise – Sedentary Behavior = 0
As I wrote here, here , here and here, the science of sedentary behavior is the current variation of exercise science that is confounding experts. Here, a NY Times fitness and wellness writer summarizes a recent study that demonstrates what I reported in this blog post way back when: that is, when people do go toRead More
Standing Desks: Why All the Rage?
In several other posts here, here, and here, I have discussed exercise and health science’s efforts to find the least amount of activity necessary to confer benefits. This goes back to my early years in grad school – 1978 to be exact – and the American College of Sports Medicine’s (ACSM) efforts to home in onRead More
Of Mice and Men: Exercise boosts neurogenerative systems
Aging happens over time, and with it comes many changes to the mind and body. I know it sounds tautological and mundanely simplistic, but science is still investigating what and why things deteriorate as we age. While most of age-related research is on diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, etc, the one that mayRead More
Pump You UP: The HIIT Weight Training Method
Seems there’s no end in sight of research studies and lay articles on HIIT – high intensity interval training. Ever since the new century unfolded, nothing this explosive – other than 9/11, non-existent WMDs, the Great Recession, and Trump’s election – has made such an intrusion into the daily lives of so many. For thoseRead More
Do Strong Arms Make for Strong Brains?
A recent study out of the UK has demonstrated a relationship – NOT a causal one but a correlated one – between strong arms, as measured by grip strength, and a healthy brain. So I’m typing this with one hand at a time while doing curls with the other. Or, perhaps, I should relax andRead More
Myth Busting #928 – Sweating Out Toxins Is Harder Than You Think
Many a fitness professional, including those who write, contribute or publish fitness and wellness articles, adhere to some voodoo beliefs that, occasionally, need debunking. For example, I just read an article in Lower Extremity Review about symmetry. That is, in medicine, therapy and fitness, there is a belief that things should be symmetrical between ourRead More